Charity Earley Wouldn't Back Down

Charity Earley

 Joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps

When she was just 23

It was 1942 and the world was at war

She had entered a man's world
Of hate and oppression and resentment
Toward her
By the very men she sought to help
In the very country she sought to defend

She had majored in Math and Physics at the University

So they made her an officer

She became a commanding officer

And then, as a Major, a battalion commander

Everyday she was presented with challenges
And everyday she handled them with grace
Most days the Army respected her rank
Some days the Army men would not
Still she soldiered on

In service to her country she went to England

In 1945 she was in Paris on VE day

And celebrated VJ day in Rouen

With the troops in her command.

She had served her country against an enemy
That may have appeared no different than those
She had at home
The ones who had threatened her and her family
And still thought of her as second class

When the war ended they wanted her in the Pentagon

To serve in the headquarters of the Women's Army Corps

But Charity had enough of the Military grind

She left the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel

The highest ranking African-American female WWII officer in the WACs